Obesity in Children Has Become a Common

Obesity in children has become a common health problem. Obesity in children is a result of indulging in fast foods and spending time in front of the television or being stationary playing video

Supportive arguments

Food Factors

There is an over-abundance of food availability in America's supermarkets and restaurants, particularly fast-food restaurants (Hill and Peters, 1998). The portion-sizes of food in America's restaurants are unreasonable and uncontrolled (Hill and Peters, 1998). There is an increase in consumption of sugar-sweetened sodas and sweetend food (Bray, 2004). There is also an over-abundance of high-fat food choices paired with a lack of palpable low-fat choices. Most importantly, studies show that a diet of 35% fat or higher contributes to obesity in sedentary animals (Hill and Peters, 1998). It is no wonder that children having this unnutritious food become obese.

Sedentary Lifestyle

Another factor is the increasingly sedentary lifestyle that is due, in part, to advances in technology and transportation, as well as to the appeal of sedentary entertainment options, manifested by (for instance) television, video games and computers. Studies show that increased activity and improved aerobic fitness can significantly reduce bodyweight and prevent obesity, particularly in children (Epstein, Paluch, Gordy & Dorn, 2000).

Counter arguments

Pollen presents an interesting argument stating that it is the American food that makes us obese and nothing to do with the sedentary lifestyle. The industrial food chain that American man is sustained on is largely based on corn, whether in its direct form, fed to livestock, or processed into chemicals such as glucose, and the cheapest forms of these are high-fructose corn syrup and ethanol. The former, particularly, through a combination of biological, cultural, and political factors, appears in the cheapest and most common of foods that constitute the American diet. It is the ingredient that results in obesity, and, since it appears in the cheapest products, the ingredients that more poor, than wealthier individuals, consume.

His arguments are substantiated by research conducted by Bell & Standish, (2009) who demonstrates that it is economic problems that, to a great extent, develop problems such as obesity due to factors such as economic, environment, and peer pressure.

Addressing counter arguments

Even if Pollan were correct and obesity were stimulated by the American diet and socio-economic conditions this does not explain why wealthy people, should supposedly be able to afford healthier food, become obese. Secondly, one of the recommendations for weight-loss is exercise. The Consumer Report (2002), for instance, showed that exercising at least three times a week was a strategy that 73% of successful dieters shared (Brannon & Feist, 2007). Being active -- rather than sedentary in front of TV or playing video games -- would, therefore, result in reduction of child-obesity.